Konoha Village.
Mission Assignment Hall.
Kakashi, leading Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, walked into the bustling hall. It was just past 9 AM, the busiest time of day for the Mission Assignment Hall.
"Ha, Kakashi! You're bringing them to pick up a mission too, eh?" In the hall, Might Guy, who was also waiting to accept a mission with his own team, spotted Kakashi and his squad and immediately called out with a booming, cheerful laugh.
Hearing Guy's voice, many people in the hall turned their attention towards them. Both Kakashi and Might Guy were well-known figures in Konoha. Seeing the two of them, friendly smiles appeared on many faces.
Beside Guy, Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee, and Tenten, all fresh-faced Genin, also turned their gazes in Kakashi's direction upon hearing their sensei's voice. However, their attention wasn't focused on Kakashi himself, but rather on Sasuke and Naruto standing behind him.
Neji's gaze, in particular, was fixed primarily on Naruto, his eyes holding a clear look of displeasure and animosity. Neji hadn't forgotten the rather arrogant words Naruto had spouted during the Ninja Academy graduation ceremony. He was very keen to find an opportunity to teach this presumptuous junior a lesson.
While Neji and his team were sizing up Naruto's group, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were also observing Neji's team. Meeting Neji's slightly hostile gaze, Naruto was momentarily taken aback, somewhat confused by the animosity, but then a surge of anger quickly welled up within him, and he stared back at Neji with equal intensity.
Beside Naruto, Sasuke's attention was solely focused on Neji. He had long heard of this prodigious talent from the Hyuga clan, the top genius from the previous graduating year. Among their current graduating cohort, apart from Naruto, only Neji was someone Sasuke considered even remotely capable of piquing his interest.
"Mm, Guy. Are you guys also preparing to take on a mission?" Hearing Guy's call, Kakashi's gaze swept over the four of them, then quickly settled on the area behind Guy. There, a pretty female ninja was standing behind an office counter. Above her station, a sign hung with the characters "B-Rank" clearly displayed. It was obvious that this was the station for accepting and completing B-rank missions.
More than four years ago, Konoha's Mission Assignment Hall hadn't been organized this way. The mission lists held by each staff member were identical, and ninja coming to accept or report on missions could handle tasks of different ranks at any counter. After Tsunade took office as Hokage, she had reformed this system, dividing missions of different ranks into different designated areas. This helped to improve the operational efficiency of the Mission Assignment Hall.
Generally speaking, B-rank missions and above usually required ninja to operate outside the village. Within Konoha Village itself, with the constant presence of the ANBU Black Ops and the Military Police Force, it was almost impossible for missions of such a high rank to even exist within the village's immediate vicinity.
Guy nodded, then asked curiously, "Yeah, are you guys also preparing to take on a more difficult mission?" It had only been a little over three months since Naruto and the others had graduated. During this time, these newly graduated, greenhorn rookies had mostly been undertaking low-difficulty D-rank and C-rank missions under the guidance of their Jonin instructors. They still lacked a great deal of experience when it came to undertaking missions outside the village.
It was very rare for Jonin instructors like Kakashi and Guy to prepare to take their students out on high-difficulty missions so soon after graduation. In times of peace, newly formed Genin squads generally wouldn't accept missions of this difficulty level. Even exceptionally talented geniuses were usually held back. The attrition rate was simply too high. Such assignments were usually only common during times of major shinobi wars.
After a brief exchange, Kakashi and Guy separated, each leading their respective students to begin studying the available mission scrolls.
Not long after, Kakashi had accepted a mission and led Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura out of the Mission Assignment Hall. As they left, Guy's Team Three had not yet found a suitable mission.
The mission Team Seven had accepted was a B-rank escort mission: to protect a small merchant caravan traveling to the Land of Earth. Compared to other B-rank missions, this escort task was considered relatively low in difficulty. If not for the considerable distance between Konoha Village and the Land of Earth, and the fact that the route passed through the somewhat unstable smaller nations of the Land of Grass and the Land of Rain, this escort mission might not even have qualified as B-rank.
Using this kind of mission for practical experience was quite suitable for a young, inexperienced team like Team Seven.
After leaving the Mission Assignment Hall, Kakashi gave the three of them a few instructions and then sent them home to prepare.
Afternoon, at Ichiraku Ramen.
Slurp~
At the counter, Tatsuya, Naruto, and Sasuke sat side-by-side, each with a steaming bowl of delicious ramen before them. Naruto had his head down, slurping his noodles with gusto. Just watching him eat was enough to make anyone feel a strong urge to eat as well. Beside him, Sasuke picked at his food slowly, showing no great interest in the ramen in his bowl.
Tatsuya ate his ramen slowly, occasionally glancing at the two boys. Seeing their completely different eating styles, a faint smile touched Tatsuya's lips. It seemed Kakashi's training over these past three months had yielded some good results. In the past, getting these two little rascals to sit down and eat together peacefully would have been almost impossible. Neither Naruto nor Sasuke would have been willing. Tatsuya himself hadn't bothered to expend much effort trying to force a "friendship" between them back then. But now, even if they were still somewhat reluctant, they were at least able to sit together. This was no small improvement.
After eating for a little while, Tatsuya spoke, "I heard you guys accepted a B-rank mission?"
"Mm-hm! It's finally our turn to show what we can do!" Hearing Tatsuya's words, Naruto, who had been engrossed in his noodles, immediately looked up, a proud grin spreading across his face. During this recent period, those trivial, mind-numbing low-rank missions had nearly driven the three rookies crazy. They all had grand ambitions! What kind of accomplishment was it to spend all day solving the mundane, everyday problems of the village's aunties and uncles!
Tatsuya chuckled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "Is that so? This mission won't be a short one. Are you all prepared?"
Naruto puffed out his chest. "We've been ready for ages!"
Beside him, Sasuke let out a soft, disdainful "Tch!" Hearing it, Naruto immediately turned and glared at him. "Hey! Sasuke, you got a problem with that?"
Sasuke didn't answer, simply ignoring him completely. The ramen stall immediately filled with Naruto's indignant chatter. Tatsuya merely watched with an amused smile, making no attempt to intervene.
More than twenty minutes later, the three of them left the ramen stall and went their separate ways.
Standing on the street corner, watching Naruto, still chattering away animatedly as he departed, and Sasuke, ever cool and aloof, Tatsuya's smile gradually began to morph into something… rather peculiar. Viewed from behind, he mused to himself, those two really do look like a "married couple," don't they!
Swoosh~
Just as this strange, almost creepy smile was spreading across Tatsuya's face, an ANBU Black Ops ninja, their face concealed by a standard mask, flickered into existence before him.